Is Basic Self-Help Vs Advanced Self-Help A Duality

[joeyi99]

I always hear: "you should be doing 10 years of basic self help before you're ready for enlightenment" 

But isn't that just a duality?

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

Its an advancement on a spectrum

And that statement is not true for everyone, far from the case

[Truth Addict]

It's a duality, but a helpful one.

See, the problem with enlightenment is that it will strip away everything you have. So, as you're going after it, you want to make sure you won't go broke and end up living on the streets. Although that's not a problem if you don't care, but most people care. (money is just one aspect, there's also health and relationships and all of their accessories).

Also, after you're done chasing enlightenment, you don't want to start your mundane life from zero (let alone from below zero), because that would be a very unfortunate situation.

But, you know, you can collapse the duality and try your luck like I did.

[R-Type]

I've heard that saying too and it's kind of confusing. Heres why... 

First of all it's missing definition. when drawing that line one should at least be able to define what basic and advanced self help is, and not leave the reader/listener alone with that phrase. I'd say most people would have a hard time coming up with a definite answer as they use the phrase without having put some serious thought into it. 

Second: the time frame of 10 years doesn't make sense as people are not the same. We come with different backgrounds and potentials, what one can do in 2 years might take another one 5 and a third one 10 years to accomplish. 

 

Third problem to me is the harsh categorizing between basic and advanced, as there is so much in between. Let's take the analogy with gymnastics. There are several movements that have basic and advanced versions, like let's say a wall assisted push up (super beginner level) and a planche push up (very advanced level). Of course you can't do planche push ups if you have trouble doing a wall push up, but it's not like once you 'mastered' wall push ups, your next goal is the planche version. There are so many variations  in between one has to tackle and accomplish first before even thinking about the planche version. But the good things about is, that all the variations before will prepare and contribute to get you there. A good coach understands this and guides the trainees, understanding where they are and what the next steps their work should be focused on. He would do that on an individual level and not offer just a basic and advanced training regiment people would blindly have to follow, depending on where he thinks they fit in. 

Sure, creating subcategories (or baby steps) ist still categorizing a thing that's actually a continuous flow, but it's better to do that fine than coarse grained. 

[AlphaAbundance]

It seems that it is simply a label for understanding

Advanced - Enlightenment Work

Basic - Everything Else

[CreamCat]

You can have access to a bit of enlightenment here and there. That's going to keep you motivated.